Willy Clayborne, 56, has spent the night outside in freezing temperatures before.

"You're so cold you hardly have time to be nervous (about hypothermia or death)," he said. "You're just trying to find a hole to sleep in."

When temperatures plunged in January and February this year, Clayborne, a Vietnam veteran, was able to find a bed at the Central Union Mission at 1350 R St., NW.

But, like many of the city's homeless, he needed a place to stay during the day as well.

Central Union, like other shelters across the city, is normally closed in the daytime, but has stayed open during the cold spell in order to accommodate Clayborne and other residents.

At most shelters, the extended hours have meant extra work for staffers.

"We're always busy," said the Rev. James Lewis, director of overnight guests at Central Union. "But the cold and the climate conditions make it a little more frantic and a little more hectic."

"It spreads you thin," Lewis added. "You have to serve the needs of more people throughout the course of the day, so activities you would otherwise be focused on are divided."

And it doesn't look as though the rush will let up any time soon.

"We're still in the middle of a cold snap," said Chapman Todd, the division director for Catholic Community Services, which works with shelters throughout the city. "(The staff) and I think it's one of the longest streaks, almost a month now, of uninterrupted hypothermic nights."

Consequently the city and service providers have responded and are going above and beyond the typical winter plans to make sure people that typical live on the streets are safe and warm.

"Our priority is to save lives," said the D.C. Department of Human Services spokeswoman Debra Daniels. "We don't want any deaths from hypothermia, and we're working our hardest to make sure that we bring the homeless in."

The department has added three hypothermia vans to its regular fleet of six vehicles to search the city for homeless people who need transportation to a shelter. Additionally, more employees are directly engaged in the outreach effort and are helping bring the homeless indoors.

Daniels also said that Human Services has partnered with the D.C.'s Department of Health, the Department of Mental Health and the Emergency Management Agency to provide vacant beds while the freezing temperatures last.

The police are on the alert as well, and officers have been reminded to look out for homeless people who may not be capable of deciding themselves whether or not to take shelter, Daniels said.

"There is a situation, for instance, where you have a homeless person who is heavily intoxicated and not in the best position to make the best judgment about their life…in terms of being out in freezing weather," she said. "The police could take the individual to the Department of Mental Health Sobering Center at DC General."

And even before the cold weather hit, the D.C. government has been running a media campaign asking the public to help ensure no one is left out in the cold. Ads on television and in local newspapers (including Street Sense) encourage citizens to call the Hypothermia Shelter Hotline number at 1-800-535-7252 to report any of the homeless who are outside in freezing weather.

"Clearly, pedestrians will see homeless persons that a van won't see because of where the person is - in a doorway, tucked away someplace they could only be seen by a pedestrian walking by," Daniels said.

However, even with all of the city's efforts, its resources are stretched to the limit in the cold weather. Consequently, the private providers are also stepping up in this cold weather crisis.

Many area shelters that normally close during the day are remaining open so the homeless will be able to spend the day indoors. Even Franklin Shelter at 13th and K streets in Northwest opened its doors during the day even though it is typical open only at night, even during hypothermia alerts. These alert days are part of the city's Winter Plan, and require that when the temperature dips below freezing, certain buildings and shelter remain open for homeless people to stay warm.

During the cold spell, Todd and his staff at Catholic Charities also frequently work with the city's Hypothermia Shelter Hotline to find beds for homeless people who arrive at a shelter that has no vacancies.

Because of the demand for indoor accommodations, residents like Joseph Remson, 56, often try to arrive at their top-choice shelter early. "I like a clean place," said Remson, who is on a waitlist for subsidized housing. "I try to be as early as I can, otherwise they will send me to a different place."

Still, with the temperature remaining low, Todd said that the heat has been "dicey" at Franklin School Shelter, a district-owned shelter where Catholic Community Shelter provides services.

And there have also been reports of no heat on at the Open Door Shelter at 2nd and D streets in Northwest, not having any heat for more a couple of days.

"There are heaters in there, but they're overwhelmed by the really cold weather," Todd said about Franklin. "The heating system is not adequate to keep it at a warm temperature."